Reduced diameter by 40% and weight by 60%.
It is learned that the artificial heart research and development company “ Shenzhen Core Medical Technology Co., Ltd. ” ( Hereinafter referred to as: Core Medical) has received tens of millions of yuan in angel round financing. The investor is Hetang Venture Capital Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd. This round of financing will be mainly used for the construction of GMP workshops, the development and production of magnetically levitated centrifugal artificial hearts, and animal experiments, with a view to promoting the aforementioned products into clinical application treatment as soon as possible.
Core Medical was established in 2016, focusing on research and development of artificial heart and ventricular assist medical device related products. Its core product is “super-small magnetic levitation centrifugal artificial heart”. At present, this product has completed the design and finalization of the first-generation product CorHeart 6 and has begun to apply for registration. It is currently conducting preclinical animal experiments and has completed batch internal animal experiments. There have been more than 100 days of success. Animal experimental data.
Ultra-small magnetic levitation artificial heart developed by core medical
At this stage, Core Medical has built its own 800-square-meter 10,000-level production workshop that complies with GMP standards, and has established engineering and biomedical laboratories. In addition, Core Medical is expanding the medical device industry chain in the cardiovascular field, and plans to provide heart disease diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, and surgical mechanical circulation assistance products and equipment for all types of heart patients.
According to “China Cardiovascular Disease Report 2018” shows that cardiovascular disease accounts for more than 40% of the total deaths among residents, ranking first, higher than tumors and other diseases. In addition, there are 4.5 million heart failure patients in China. As the aging degree increases, the prevalence rate continues to rise. Heart transplantation is currently recognized as the only effective way to treat patients with end-stage heart failure. However, due to lack of donors, China can only achieve more than 300 heart transplants each year.
Emergence of artificial heartIt brings new hope to many patients with heart failure.
It is a mechanical pump that transfers blood to the human circulatory system to assist or replace the pumping function of the natural heart. At this stage, it has also become one of the standardized treatment methods for heart failure recommended by international guidelines. It is widely used in the clinical treatment of heart failure such as heart failure and myocardial insufficiency. The effect is significant. Take Heartmate 3, which has been around for many years, as an example. Its 2 years The survival rate is 74.7%, which is closer to the survival rate of heart transplantation 84%.
In the face of such a large cardinal population, the prospect of artificial heart is very broad. Toratec and Heartware, the two largest artificial heart development and listing companies in the United States, were taken as an example. In 2013 alone, Thoratec’s annual revenue reached US $ 502 million, and Heartware’s annual revenue was US $ 207 million. Thoratec was acquired by St. Jude Medical for $ 3.4 billion in 2015, and the latter was acquired by Abbott; Heartware was acquired by Medtronic for $ 1.2 billion in 2016. Currently, the two companies are implanted annually The volume is in 6000-7000 cases.
So far, artificial heart technology has undergone several changes, and four types have appeared: pneumatic pumps, mechanical bearing pumps, hydraulic bearing pumps, and magnetic levitation centrifugal pumps. Among them, the pulsating blood pump has gradually withdrawn from clinical applications due to the large volume of the device, which severely damages the blood components; mechanical bearing pumps and hydraulic bearing pumps also have a large damage to the blood, in order to reduce blood The probability of injury, the research and development of artificial heart technology gradually develops to the full magnetic levitation centrifugal pump.
However, The magnetic barrier artificial heart has high technical barriers and requires long-term technological accumulation. At present, only a few companies around the world have developed a clinical application level. Products, such as Medtronic, Kalmar, Sinkadia, and Yongrenxin ( Tongxin Medical , < a href = "https://36kr.com/p/5222348"> Heart Medical , etc.).
According to the introduction, The ultra-small magnetic levitation artificial heart developed by Core Medical uses a more optimized mainstream and secondary flow field structure, magnetic levitation motor design and control technology, and integration. Multi-redundant non-contact bearing technology can reduce blood dwell time and microcirculation time, reduce the probability of blood damage, better blood compatibility, and lower cost, which will effectively reduce the burden on patients.
It is worth mentioning that the core medical ultra-small magnetic levitation artificial heart has a diameter of 34 mm, a thickness of 26 mm, and a weight of about 90 grams, which is 40% smaller in diameter and 60% in weight than the existing full magnetic levitation artificial heart in the market. . According to publicly disclosed data (in the field of ventricular assisted blood pumps), it is the smallest and lightest magnetic levitation centrifugal artificial heart in the world.
According to the introduction, this kind of ultra-small artificial heart has a wider application. Whether it is short-term assisted cardiac recovery therapy, transitional therapy before heart transplantation, or even as a long-term replacement heart, it can be effectively applied. In addition, because its technology has good expandability, it can be applied to other extracorporeal circulation and emergency auxiliary medical devices, and the patient application group will also expand-except for end-stage patients, it will also be suitable for cardiac function recovery in mid-term patients, And children and adolescents with congenital myocardial insufficiency adjuvant therapy.
Finally, introduce the core team. The founder of Dr. Shunzhou Yu is an adjunct professor at Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen). Graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology, University of California, Davis Branch School of Mechanical Engineering, worked as a senior engineer in Terumo Heart, Thoratec and Verb Surgical in the United States. Heartmate 3, etc .; also as the main person in charge of motor control and magnetic levitation design, participating in the development of the next-generation artificial heart.